Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.
This film, based on Marcus Clarke’s complex novel of the convict days, begins in England with a murder on Hampstead Heath. Rufus Dawes is wrongly arrested and sentenced to transportation, as a convict, to Van Dieman’s Land. The bitter life of the convicts is depicted, culminating in Dawes’ escape. In disguise, he joins a boat to sail to freedom and on board meets his long lost love, Sylvia.
Cast includes George Fisher, Eva Novak, Dunstan Webb, Jessica Harcourt.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Previously on display
22 April 2019
ACMI Viewing Booths
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
300828
Audience classifications
G
Mediatheque - all ages (ACMI classified)
Subject categories
Feature films → Feature films - Australia
Literature → Australian literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Silent
Colour
Tinted
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)